Gertrude Michael

Gertrude Michael
File:Gertrude Michael Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg
Born	Lillian Gertrude Michael (1911-06-01)June 1, 1911 Talladega, Alabama, U.S.
Died	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	actress
Years active	1932–1961

Gertrude Michael (June 1, 1911 – December 31, 1964) was an American film, stage and television actress.

Biography

Born as Lillian Gertrude Michael in Talladega, Alabama, she reportedly graduated from high school at the age of 14. She became a singer on the radio. She attended the University of Alabama and Converse College, Spartanburg, SC. Her childhood home in Talladega, Alabama was destroyed by fire in 2007.

In 1929 in Cincinnati she made her stage debut in a stock company. She subsequently appeared on Broadway in Rachel Crothers' Caught Wet (1931). She entered the movies playing Richard Arlen's fiancée in Wayward (1932), but her best-remembered role is probably as Rita Ross in Murder at the Vanities (1934), one of the last pre-Code films, in which she sang an ode to marijuana (Sweet Marijuana).

Among her television appearances, Michael was seen eleven times on Fireside Theater between 1950-1955 and three times on Schlitz Playhouse. She also made a guest appearance on Perry Mason in 1958 as Helen Rucker in "The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary."

She had an affair with writer Paul Cain (aka Peter Ruric). After they broke up, Cain wrote the role of the alcoholic lover (based on Michael) in his only novel published during his lifetime, Fast One.

Michael died, aged 53, from undisclosed causes, in Beverly Hills, California.

Partial filmography

• Wayward (1932)
• Unashamed (1932)
• Sailor Be Good (1933)
• A Bedtime Story (1933)
• Night of Terror (1933)
• Ann Vickers (1933)
• I'm No Angel (1933)
• Cradle Song (1933)
• Search for Beauty (1934)
• Bolero (1934)
• George White's Scandals (1934) (uncredited)
• Hold That Girl (1934)
• I Believed in You (1934)
• The Witching Hour (1934)
• Murder at the Vanities (1934)
• Murder on the Blackboard (1934)
• The Notorious Sophie Lang (1934)
• Cleopatra (1934)
• Father Brown, Detective (1934)
• It Happened in New York (1935)
• Four Hours to Kill! (1935)
• The Last Outpost (1935)
• Till We Meet Again (1936)
• Woman Trap (1936)
• The Return of Sophie Lang (1936)
• Second Wife (1936)
• Forgotten Faces (1936)
• Make Way for a Lady (1936)
• Mr. Dodd Takes the Air (1937)
• Sophie Lang Goes West (1937)
• Star of the Circus (1938)
• Hidden Power (1939)
• Just like a Woman (1939)
• Parole Fixer (1940)
• Women in Bondage (1943)
• Faces in the Fog (1944)
• Allotment Wives (1945)
• Flamingo Road (1949)
• Caged (1950)
• Women's Prison (1955)

Television appearances

• Sea Hunt .... Mrs. Friedrich (1 episode, 1961)
• Perry Mason .... Helen Rucker (1 episode, 1958)
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars (3 episodes, 1952–1957)
• The 20th Century-Fox Hour .... Kate (1 episode, 1957)
• The New Adventures of Charlie Chan .... Joyce Fenton (1 episode, 1957)
• Cameo Theatre (1 episode, 1955)
• Four Star Playhouse .... Fanny (1 episode, 1955)
• The Ford Television Theatre .... Belle (1 episode, 1954)
• Private Secretary .... Hollywood Star (1 episode, 1954)
• The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse .... Coralee (1 episode, 1954)
• Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson (1 episode, 1954)
• Meet Corliss Archer ... Mrs. Wilson (1 episode)
• Cavalcade of America .... Major Pauline Cushman (1 episode)

External links

• Gertrude Michael at the Internet Movie Database
• Gertrude Michael at the Internet Broadway Database
• Gertrude Michael at AllMovie
• Gertrude Michael at Find a Grave
• Gertrude Michael at Virtual History